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A report from the World Economic Forum (2019) stated loneliness as the third societal stressor in the world, mainly in western countries. Moreover, research shows that loneliness tends to be experienced more severely by young adults than other age groups (Rokach, 2000), which is the case of university students who face profound periods of loneliness when attending university in a new place (Diehl et al., 2018). Digital technology, especially mental health apps (MHapps), have been viewed as promising solutions to address this distress in universities, however, little evidence on this topic reveals uncertainty around how these resources impact individual well-being. Therefore, this research proposed to investigate how the gamified social mobile app Noneliness reduced loneliness rates and other associated mental health issues of students from a German university. As little work has focused on digital apps targeting loneliness, this project also proposed to describe and discuss the app’s design and development processes. A multimethod approach was adopted: literature review on high-efficacy MHapps design, gamification for mental health and loneliness interventions; User Experience Design and Human-centered Computing. Evaluations occurred according to the app’s development iterations, which assessed four versions (from prototype to Beta) through quantitative and qualitative studies with university students. The main results obtained regarding the design aspects were: users' preference for minimalistic interfaces; importance in maintaining privacy and establishing trust among users; students' willingness to use an online support space for emotional and educational support. Most used features were those related to group discussions, private chats and university social events. Preferred gamification elements were those that provided positive reinforcement to motivate social interactions (e.g. Points, Levels and Achievements). Results of a pilot randomized controlled trial with university students (N = 12), showed no statistically significant interactions in reducing loneliness among experimental group members (n = 7, x² = 3.500, p-value = 0.477, Cramer’s V = 0.27) who made continued use of the app for six weeks. On the other hand, the app showed effects of moderate magnitude on loneliness reduction in this group. The app also demonstrated relatively strong magnitude effects on other associated variables, such as depression and stress in the experimental group. In addition to motivating the conduct of further studies with larger samples, the findings point to a potential app effectiveness not only to reduce loneliness, but also other variables that may be associated with the distress.
Loneliness, an emotional distress caused by the lack of meaningful social connections, has been increasingly affecting university students who need to deal with everyday situations in a new setting, especially those who have come from abroad. Currently there is little work on digital solutions to reduce loneliness. Therefore, this work describes the general design considerations for mobile apps in this context and outlines a potential solution. The mobile app Noneliness is used to this end: it aims to reduce loneliness by creating social opportunities through a quest-based gamified system in a secure and collaborative network of local users. The results of initial evaluations with the target audience are described. The results informed a user interface redesign as well as a review of the features and the gamification principles adopted.
During the periods of social isolation to contain the advance of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, educational institutions have had the challenge to adopt technological strategies not only to ensure continuity in students’ classes, but also to support their mental health in a period of uncertainty and health risks. Loneliness is an emotional distress caused by the lack of meaningful social connections; it has increasingly affected young adults worldwide during the pandemic's social isolation and still bears psychological effects in the current post-pandemic period. In the light of this challenge, the Nonenliness App was developed as a way to bring together university communities to address issues related to loneliness and mental health disorders through a gamified and social online environment. In this paper, we present the app and its main functionalities (Beta version) and discuss the preliminary results of a pilot clinical study conducted with university students in Germany (N = 12) to verify the app's efficacy and usability, alongside the challenges faced and the next steps to be taken regarding the platform's improvement.
The findings presented in this article were obtained through a preliminary exploratory study conducted at the Offenburg University as part of the Fighting Loneliness project promoted by the institution’s Affective & Cognitive Institute (ACI) from October 2019 to February 2020. The initiative’s main objective was to answer the research question “How should an app be designed to reduce loneliness and social isolation among university students?” with the collaboration of the institution’s students.
Gamification is increasingly successful in the field of education and health. However, beyond call-centers and applications in human resources, its utilization within companies remains limited. In this paper, we examine the acceptance of gamification in a large company (with over 17,000 employees) across three generations, namely X, Y, and Z. Furthermore, we investigate which gamification elements are suited for business contexts, such as the dissemination of company principles and facts, or the organization of work tasks. To this end, we conducted focus group discussions, developed the prototype of a gamified company app, and performed a large-scale evaluation with 367 company employees. The results reveal statistically significant intergenerational disparities in the acceptance of gamification: younger employees, especially those belonging to Generation Z, enjoy gamification more than older employees and are most likely to engage with a gamified app in the workplace. The results further show a nuanced range of preferences regarding gamification elements: avatars are popular among all generations, badges are predominantly appreciated by Generations Z and Y, while leaderboards are solely liked by Generation Z. Drawing upon these insights, we provide recommendations for future gamification projects within business contexts. We hope that the results of our study regarding the preferences of the gamification elements and understanding generational differences in acceptance and usage of gamification will help to create more engaging and effective apps, especially within the corporate landscape.
Die Digitalisierung der Hochschullehre schreitet aktuell weiter voran. Mit dem Beginn der Corona-Pandemie und den Einschränkungen im öffentlichen Raum sind Studierende als auch Lehrende auf alternative Lehrmethoden angewiesen.
Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, zu beantworten, inwiefern eine E-Lerning Anwendung unter Verwendung von Gamification Elementen realisiert werden kann. Zur Konzeption und Programmierung eines Prototypen und zur Generierung und Aufbereitung von Lehrinhalten unter Berücksichtigung mediendidaktischer Aspekte, wurde einen Laborversuch aus dem Bereich der Elektrotechnik zurückgegriffen. Zur Extraktion der Informationen wurden die Component Display Theorie und die Elaborationstheorie genutzt.
Anhand der gesammelten Lehrinhalte wurden mithilfe des Octalysis-Frameworks passende Gamification Elemente gewählt. Insbesondere wurden hier die positiven Motivatoren gewählt, in Kombination mit einem ausgewogenen Verhältnis zwischen intrinsischen und extrinsischen Antrieben.
Im Bereich der Schaltungsssimulation wurde auf das Open Source Projekt Spice-Sharp zugegriffen, welches auf der SPICE Bibliothek basiert.
Abschließend wurde die Unity Engine für die Realisierung des Prototyps verwendet. Mit diesem wird ein Grundlagenversuch aus der Elektrotechnik simuliert.
Als deutliche Erkenntnis zeigt sich, dass das Octalysis-Framework sinnvolle Spielelemente im Zusammenhang mit einer E-Learning Anwendung liefert.
Eine weitergehende Forschung im Bereich der Gamification von Simulationssoftware könnte mit einer Evaluation der vorgeschlagenen Spielelemente problemlos fortgeführt werden.
Deafblindness, a form of dual sensory impairment, signifcantly impacts communication, access to information and mobility. Inde- pendent navigation and wayfnding are main challenges faced by individuals living with combined hearing and visual impairments. We developed a haptic wearable that provides sensory substitution and navigational cues for users with deafblindness by conveying vibrotactile signals onto the body. Vibrotactile signals on the waist area convey directional and proximity information collected via a fisheye camera attached to the garment, while semantic informa- tion is provided with a tapping system on the shoulders. A playful scenario called “Keep Your Distance” was designed to test the navigation system: individuals with deafblindness were “secret agents” that needed to follow a “suspect”, but they should keep an opti- mal distance of 1.5 meters from the other person to win the game. Preliminary fndings suggest that individuals with deafblindness enjoyed the experience and were generally able to follow the directional cues.
A Gamified and Adaptive Learning System for Neurodivergent Workers in Electronic Assembling Tasks
(2020)
Learning and work-oriented assistive systems are often designed to fit the workflow of neurotypical workers. Neurodivergent workers and individuals with learning disabilities often present cognitive and sensorimotor characteristics that are better accommodated with personalized learning and working processes. Therefore, we designed an adaptive learning system that combines an augmented interaction space with user-sensitive virtual assistance to support step-by-step guidance for neurodivergent workers in electronic assembling tasks. Gamified learning elements were also included in the interface to provide self-motivation and praise whenever users progress in their learning and work achievements.
New employees are supposed to quickly understand their tasks, internal processes and familiarize with colleagues. This process is called “onboarding” and is still mainly realized by organizational methods from human resource management, such as introductory events or special employee sessions. Software tools and especially mobile applications are an innovative means to support provide onboarding processes in a modern, even remote, way. In this paper we analyze how the use of gamification can enhance onboarding processes. Firstly, we describe a mobile onboarding application specifically developed for the young, technically literate generations Y and Z, who are just about to start their career. Secondly, we report on a study with 98 students and young employees. We found that participants enjoyed the gamified application. They especially appreciated the feature “Team Bingo” which facilitates social integration and teambuilding. Based on the OCEAN personality model (“Big Five”), the personality traits agreeableness and openness revealed significant correlations with a preference for the gamified onboarding application.